The College News
Z-615
VOL. XXIX, No. 24
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1943
Copyright, Trustees of
Bryn Mawr College. 1943
PRICE 10 CENTS
Flexner Lectures
To Be Presented
By ML Henri Peyre
Yale Professor to Discuss
Modern French Novels
Next Year
Henri Peyre, Docteur es lettres,
and at present Sterling Professor
at Yale, will be the visiting lec-
turer on the Mary Flexner Lec-
tureship next year. He plans to
deliver six speeches on the Con-
temporary French Novel.
M. Peyre's tentative outline of
subjects for the lectures begins
with the legacy of Proust and Gide
in contemporary novels, and ranges
through the various trends of tra-
dition and experiment to Malraux
and Saint Exupery. The visionary
and surrealistic novel Will be
treated as well as the epic novel as
exemplified in the works of Jean
Giono.
French Seminary
In addition to the series, during
the six weeks in February and
March M. Peyre will conduct the
Seminary in Modern French
Poetry and will be available for
consultation with students.
Born in Paris in 1901, M. Peyre
studied and received his degrees
there. His American career started
at Bryn Mawr. He was a member
of the French Department here
from 1925 to 1928. He then went
to Yale, where he has remained
except for an interval at the Uni-
versity of Cairo in Egypt. In 1938
he became Sterling Professor at
Yale and received his degree of
A. M. from that university in 1939.
M. Peyre has written many
books on French classicism. His
most recent works are L'influence
des Literature antique sur la liter-
ature Francaise moderne, pub-
lished in 1941, and he classicisme
Francaise, published in 1942. His
book, Shelley et La France, was
printed in Cairo in 1935. A num-
ber of volumes of classical plays
have been edited by M. Peyre.
Calendar
Thurs. and Fri., May 20, 21
Goldspinners, Wyndham
Gardens 9 P. M.
Friday, May 21
Last day of classes.
Tuesday, May 25
Final examinations begin.
Saturday, June 5
Final examinations end.
Sunday, June 6
Baccalaureate services,
Goodhart, 8 P. M.
Monday, June 7
Senior Garden Party,
Wyndham Garden, 4:30 to
7 P. M.
Tuesday, June 8
Commencement Exercises.
Closing of 58th Academic
Year. 11 A. M.
Solos, Choruses, Skit
Mark First Program
Of Thesipolian Group
The Thesipolian Chorus, recent-
ly organized by the Maids and
Porters, gave its first public con-
cert on Monday night. With cho-
rus arrangements, ^bass solos by
Mr. Carlos Noyles, the chorus' di-
rector, and an amusing skit, the
program showed a wide range of
selection and a careful prepara-
tion.
Among Mr. Noyles' songs, the
Verdi aria, Infelice E Tuo Cre-
devi and the humorous Captain
Mac were particularly well done,
and the Bedouin Love Song had a
lusty swing. Mr. Joseph Lockett
accompanied the soloist and the
chorus on the piano.
The spiritual, My Lord, What a
Morning, sung by the chorus with
the contrast of solo intervals, was
very well suited to the warm
voices. In the final group of cho-
rus numbers, the Sibelius Dear
Land of Home (from Finlandia)
was sympathetically treated.
Following the intermission,
Pearl Edmunds and Lewis White
presented a diverting skit on the
trials of in-laws and married life
in general.
Well Dug by Cast, Ice-House Hut, Cellophane
Help Goldspinners Form Wyndham Fairyland
By April Oursler, *45
The witch comes dancing out of
the hut, and the hut disappears;
the prince puts his arm around the
princess, and the castle winks its
eyes�the Goldspinners is under
way. Wyndham garden is trans-
formed into a fairyland of lights
and scenery, where automatic fire-
flies glow in the bushes, and an
evil spirit rises from the garden
well.
The well was the result of long
and bailful labor�for the cast not
Unlimited Cuts
The Faculty Curriculum
Committee has considered
the report on "Unlimited
Cuts" submitted by the Stu-
dent Curriculum Committee
and has made a recommenda-
tion to the Faculty. There
is agreement on the principle
that the responsibility for
class attendance should rest
entirely with the students.
The actual mechanics of
such a system have not yet
been decided. The Faculty
expects to pass a final vote
on the question at the next
meeting.
only had to dig it, but they had to
keep it dry in the face of our
tropical May floods. The well
spirit lives there; the princess is
dragged down into it, the prince
goes after her, and the witch falls
in at the end�in full costume, a
feat worthy of a Broadway pro-
duction.
The ice-house, magically trans-
formed into the hut, where the
witch lives, is rivaled only by the
magnificence of the huge grey
castle�a very sympathetic castle,
raising its eyebrows at the love-
making of the prince, and warning
everyone of the witch's evil inten-
I tions. It even snores.
But the greatest achievement of
! all is the costuming. The witch
I rides off on her broomstick in typi-
! cal witch fashion, and the spirit of
I the well rises resplendent in shin-
! ing cellophane fins. Under the
spirit's spell, the princess ascends
I from the well in a soft, yellow,
| water-lily costume, surrounded by
silver-winged fairies. The spider
enchains her with a web dipped in
water glass and the wizard has a
long blue cloak with shimmering
stars, and a great tall transparent
cap that lights up w"hen he thinks
. . . What will the modern dance
do next?
F. Nkrumah Examines
Customs and Beliefs
of Native Fetishisms
Common Room, May 14.�"The
idea of one God and His worship is
the candle of Fetishism," said Mr.
Francis N. Nkrumah in his lec-
ture on the philosophy of the pre-
dominating West African religion.
Formerly a tribesman on the
African Gold Coast and now study-
ing for his Ph. D. at the University
of Pennsylvania, Mr. Nkrumah
related the origin and background
of Fetishism and its practices
among the native tribes.
Fetishism, Mr. Nkrumah as-
serted, is not an original form of
religion but one which descended
from an old, higher religion. The
word, coming from the Latin
"facere," was first used by the
Portuguese when they came to
Africa in 1481. As a term it
means the medicinal material of
the native doctors, but now, he
said, it embraces all phases of
West African natural religion.
The fetish itself becomes a god
when the native priest believes it
to contain a spirit.
Refuting the belief that the na-
tives have no conception of one
God, Mr. Nkrumah said that the
idea of making small objects to
worship was derived as an agency
between the clan and the spirit of
God. A Supreme Being is held in
great esteem by the natives, he
said, but He is too distant for them
to know, so they reach Him
through the worship of lesser gods.
Mr. Nkrumah pointed to the
geography and sociology of West
Africa as of the greatest import-
ance for a background for Fetish-
ism.
Varied Dances Given
By LittMeld Ballet
Goodhart, May 15.�The Little-
field Junior Ballet, under the di-
rection of Dorothie Littlefield,
presented a well-choreographed
and varied program for the benefit
of Main Line branch of the Junior
Red Cross last Saturday night.
Youthful spirit and technical skill
distinguished it from the usual
performance of an amateur group.
Ranging in subject matter from
a Tschaikowsky serenade to a pa-
triotic tribute to our allies, the
program was, on the whole, skill-
fully executed and planned. In
the first number, Ballet Miniature,
the dancers, although individually
good, were not well synchronized,
except in a scarf dance starring
Gloria Stone and the ensemble.
Excellent arm work characterized
the interpretation of the Tschai-
kowsky music which represented
the most serious dancing of the
evening.
In The Divertissement, or Trib-
ute to Our Allies, the ballet corps
changed to a more flirtatious mood,
with harem dancers from Tunisia,
South American rhythms, and "the
original French Can-Can, taken
from the Bal Tabarin in Paris," as
well as the Flirtation Trio, with
Billy Inglis as the young sailor,
and Patsy Kerrigan and Antoin-
ette Malina as the girls in every
port.
The Lower Merion Senior High
School Orchestra, accompanying
the ballet, began'the evening with
a colorful and sympathetic rendi-
tion of-Johnson's "The Piper of
Hamlir/" went on to Gilbert and
Sulliyan music from "H. M. S.
Pinafore," and finally set the mood
of some of the later Tunisian
dances with Ippolitow-Ivanoff's
"Procession of the Sardar."
90% of Students Polled Read Papers
Daily; Like Manning, Harris Lectures
Tabulation of News Polls
Shows Favorite Paper,
Periodical
(Total number of opinions�310)
I
1. Do you read newspapers daily?
282 yes.
Headlines 276
Front page 263
Society page 156
Comics 127
Sports 71
Columns 121
Editorial page 118
Continued on Page Four
Comments on Assemblies,
Current Events Talks
Are Stated
Russian Civil Liberty
Described by Harris
For Graduate Group
Radnor, May 18.�Comparing
the meaning of personal freedom
in the Soviet Union with that in
the United States was the keynote
of the talk by Thomas Harris pre-
sented to the Graduate Club on
Tuesday night. When Russians
think of freedom, they think pri-
marily of freedom from want,
while we are apt to think of free-
dom of speech. Mr. Harris, the
national secretary of the American
Council for Soviet Relations, de-
voted most of his time to answer-
ing questions and general discus-
sion.
The relation of the Soviet Union
to communist groups in other
countries is not one of close con-
trol by the Russian government.
It is rather that all communists
start from the same basic beliefs
intellectually and emotionally, and
therefore their thinking on a cer-
tain issue usually leads to similar
conclusions.
Although criticism of foreign
policy is frowned upon by the
Soviet government, there is much
less restriction imposed within
Russia itself than is generally sup-
posed.
Religion
In the intellectual field, religion
is the most important and most
ticklish question. Since 1928 there
has been a remarkable reversal of
policy toward the church, leading
to much greater toleration. There
is now a large group opposed to
the traditional Marxist idea which
is completely godless and against
any religion whatsoever. The new
group distinguishes between the
Christian and other religions with
the result that there are now more
practicing Christians within the
Soviet Union than in all of the
British Empire.
The question was raised as to
whether the removal of war pres-
sure and fear of war would stop
the trend toward greater personal
freedom. Mr. Harris replied that
he thought not, because history
showirjthat a period of peace and
internal improvements has almost
invariably led to the relaxation
rather than further extension of
liberty-restricting measures.
In answer to the recent News
poll of the campus attitude toward
current affairs, two hundred and
eighty-two students out of the
three hundred and ten questioned,
or over ninety per cent, said they
read newspapers daily. Two hun-
dred and eleven people include the
New York Times in their choice of
papers. Seventy-nine include the
N. Y. Herald Tribune and fifty-
four the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In another section of the same
poll, Mr. Frederick Manning's lec-
ture on The Military Aspects of
the War was chosen as the best
war assembly by eighty-six stu-
dents. Mr. Thomas Harris of the
American Institute for Soviet Re-
lations ran a close second with his
lecture on America and the Soviet
Union in the Post-War World.
These two assemblies were decid-
edly the favorites, fifty-seven per
cent of those polled choosing either
one or the other or making a dou-
ble choice of the pair.
Criticize Assemblies
In explanation of their strong
preference for the Manning and
Harris lectures, students said that
these two avoided the main weak
points of the average war assem-
bly; oversimplification or general-
ization and overspecialization. The
overly general lectures, they said,
were not challenging enough to
provoke thought. They contained
only general background material
already familiar to most students.
The Hansen lecture, while highly
praised by some, was disclaimed
by others as being too technical for
listeners with no knowledge of eco-
nomics.
The praise of war assemblies in
general was summed up by the
statement, "I thought the assem-
blies were excellent and should be
continued next year. They dealt
with extremely pertinent questions
and clarified some of the events
and problems of the world to a
great degree." The advice offered
to coming speakers was, "Keep
them analytical and critical. We
don't want just facts."
Continued on Fat;e Four
M
inner
Score
Radio Club
Due to a misunderstand-
ing, an announcement was
made concerning the Radio
Club's plans for expansion
next year. These plans have
not yet been submitted to
Miss McBride or to the
Undergraduate Association.
They represent a tentative
idea rather than a decision
on the part of the Radio
Club.
"Goldspi
Played by Schumann
Specially Contributed by
Sue Coleman, '45
Gymnasium, Sunday, May 16.�
An informal piano recital by Mr.
Hans Schumann featured the
"Goldspinners" music, composed
for the Dance Club performance.
Before playing Mr. Schumann,
commented on his conception and
composition of the work.
Mr. Schumann's playing was
skillfully expressive and spontane-
ous, and the music displayed his
colorful imagination and musical
spirit.
A scene in Wyndham garden in-
spired the composer to create
something which is neither panto-
mimic, nor dramatic in the time-
worn operatic sense, yet has a defi-
nite form and continuous dramatic
development.
"A genuine fairy tale," he said,
"is a particularly good and deep
background for an opera, for it
captures the wisdom of many gen-
erations in a parabolic mirror."
Having decided upon his stage,
; "twice as large as the Metropoli-
tan's," and having arrived at a
Continued on Pntje Four
i